1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to explosives and more specifically to silicon-based explosives.
2. Description of the Related Art
The combination of porous silicon and an oxidizer has been known to have energetic properties for years. Both concentrated nitric acid and liquid oxygen, when added to porous silicon immediately after etching, have been found to cause an explosive reaction. Notably, these experiments involve liquid reagents and spontaneous reactions. However, use of liquid reagents and resulting spontaneous reactions typically are not practical implementations for explosives.
The process for making explosive silicon with a solid oxidizer appears to have originated at the University of California at San Diego, where it was discovered during work with porous silicon for luminescent emitters. In particular, it was discovered that when a solution of Gadolinium Nitrate salt dissolved in ethanol was added to a freshly etched sample of porous silicon, and the ethanol was evaporated away to leave a solid salt, an energetic exothermic reaction of the material could be induced by scratching it with a scribe. An acoustic report and a flame were emitted from the sample.